Erica’s Story Erica* and her three kids were facing homelessness when she contacted Cokesbury Church. She was pregnant with her fourth child, and had reached the limit on the amount of time she and her family could live in the domestic violence shelter they had been calling home. Thankfully, the shelter let Erica and her family stay. Several months later, with a new baby in tow, Erica reached back out to Cokesbury. She had secured housing through Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation! Now she and her kids needed furniture. Erica was partnered with a Hope Connection volunteer, who was able to connect Erica with the Knoxville Furniture Ministry and a Cokesbury family who were able to join forces to furnish their entire home. Hope Connection was also able to help Erica and her kids by assisting with the utility and rent deposits required for their new home. Erica and her family are home now. Safe and sound. Erica’s story is not unique. Each week, we walk alongside individuals and families who are facing extreme hardship. Hope Connection volunteers work tirelessly to help our neighbors find resources to meet their everyday needs. But more than that, they help our neighbors thrive. Bob’s Story From his office, Bob Lewis could see the dumpster for one of the restaurants in the group for which he was the director of operations. He would often see someone digging through the dumpster for food. When he saw this, he’d walk to the restaurant, buy a to-go meal, and take it to the person. He would often give the person money, too, though his wife Kaye never knew how much. “He would come home from work just devastated by what he saw. It was gut-wrenching.” Meanwhile, Kaye Lewis was serving on the Missions and Outreach Committee for Cokesbury. She knew that people often called or visited the church with financial needs. She knew that the church didn’t have a designated fund to help these individuals. In 2001, Bob was diagnosed with cancer. Five and a half weeks later, Kaye was asking that Bob’s obituary indicate that donations should be given to Cokesbury United Methodist Church in lieu of flowers. Kaye asked that the funds given in Bob’s memory be designated in some way, but she needed some time to think about where she wanted the funds to go. When she next spoke to the church, she asked that the funds be earmarked for people with emergency needs; neighbors who needed a hand-up. “The idea had to come directly from God,” Kaye said. “At that point, I couldn't think. I couldn't pray. When I talked to our pastor that day and told him how I wanted that money to be used, it just came out. I hadn't thought about it, I hadn't been thinking about it. It just came out.” Very quickly, more than $4,000 had been donated to the fund. Kaye expected that when the money ran out, the fund would close down. That was 19 years ago. “People just kept giving,” Kaye said. “Eventually the church decided that the monthly communion offering would go to the fund. The money just kept rolling in.” Today, our Hope Connection volunteers have the resources of the Bob Lewis Love Your Neighbor Fund available to them as they walk alongside families in need, like Erica’s. When you designate your over-and-above gift, you not only honor the legacy of a kind and generous member of our church, you bless our neighbors in need. “Bob would just be blown away that the fund is still in existence and has gone on all these years. He would be so happy about that. Bob would be so, so thrilled.” How to Give You can designate your over-and-above gift to the Bob Lewis Love Your Neighbor Fund any time you give online . You can also give on communion Sundays (usually the first Sunday of the month), in the offering baskets on the altar. Resources in this fund are allocated by our highly trained volunteer & staff team as they form relationships with our neighbors in need. *Erica’s name has been changed **With special thanks to Kaye Lewis, who spoke with Director of Communications, Ashley Cross, for this story. ORIGINAL DATE: July 8, 2020